Be the blessing for Jesus’ Church
Listen to Jesus
Let Jesus show you how
37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. In fact, the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.” (Luke 6:37-38, EHV)
In a couple of weeks, the track season will be starting.
One thing you hear from track participants is they strive for their best performance. It’s referred to as their “personal best.”
As Christians, it’s a good thing for us to be striving for our “personal best.” It means that each day we do our best to live as Jesus did. Why? It’s our thankful response to the gifts that Jesus gives us, his forgiveness and his act of welcoming us into his eternal family through the gift of faith.
And while our personal best is important to us personally, it’s also way we do something else that Jesus has called us to do. To…
Be the blessing for Jesus’ Church
Listen to Jesus
Let Jesus show us how
Listen to Jesus
In our text today, the gospel writer, Luke, is giving us a glimpse of Jesus as teacher interacting with his disciples, his students. Think of it as an open-air classroom for the disciples, but not just the 12, but for the many others who were calling being called as the disciples of Jesus, both women and men.
They didn’t realize it yet, but he was preparing for the time when he would entrust them with the future of his church. As the founding members, Jesus wanted them to provide a far different experience for each other than they were experiencing from their leaders.
What they were hearing from the synagogue leaders was a lot of condemnation and judgement.
In the early verses of this, chapter 6, of Luke’s gospel Luke recorded two events.
First, one Sabbath Day Jesus and the disciples were walking along the fields of ripening grain. As was common practice for travelers, the disciples would reach out and pluck a head of wheat, rub it in their hands, blow away the chaff, pop the kernels in their mouth, and enjoy a snack. This practice was part of Jewish culture, a sort of hospitality for travelers who didn’t have a convenience store along the road where they could pick up a snack. The Pharisees found something to criticize. They said, “Why are you doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath?” (Luke 6:2)
When God established the Sabbath Day as a day of rest for his Old Testament believers, he commanded that farmers not farm on the Sabbath Day and that cooks not cook on the Sabbath Day. But God told people they could eat. He never forbad someone from picking up food from the field or from a tree for a quick meal.
But the Pharisees developed their own rules for keeping the Sabbath Day. Now, if that is how they wanted to keep the Sabbath, that was OK. The problem came from their practice of insisting that their rules needed to be the practice for everyone and for voicing open disapproval to anyone who didn’t agree with their rules.
Luke records a second event. On a different Sabbath Day Jesus and his disciples were observing the Sabbath by attending synagogue services. One man who attended had a shriveled hand. Luke tells us The Pharisees and the teachers of the law were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal on the Sabbath. (Luke 7:7)
Again, the problem with the Pharisee’s approach was its focus on their own manmade rules. In their mind keeping them was more important than an act of mercy. This was pushing people away from a relationship with God. They were anything but a blessing to Christ’s church.
Jesus is speaking to this situation when he taught his to listen to him. To be a blessing to his church, his disciples to act differently. 37 “Do not judge, and you will not be judged. Do not condemn, and you will not be condemned. Forgive, and you will be forgiven. 38 Give, and it will be given to you. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. In fact, the measure with which you measure will be measured back to you.”
First, we want to note that Jesus is speaking to his disciples as group. It isn’t obvious in our translation, but when Jesus says, “you,” he is really saying, “Y’all!” Listen again: Y’all, do not judge, and y’all will not be judged. Y’all, do not condemn, and y’all will not be condemned. Y’all, forgive, and y’all will be forgiven. 38 Y’all give, and it will be given to y’all. When we understand that Jesus is speaking to “y’all,” I think we can say that Jesus is speaking to human experience here. Sort of, what goes around comes around. When people are judgmental and condemning, it creates an atmosphere of judgment and condemnation. But on the other hand, when people are forgiving, it creates an atmosphere of forgiveness. Likewise, when y’all are giving and generous, it creates an atmosphere of giving and generosity that brings blessing to y’all. That is why Jesus concludes, A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. In fact, the measure with which you measure will be measured back to y’all.” The greater the generosity, the bigger the blessing for everyone.
Let’s dig into this a bit more.
What kind of judgement and condemnation is going on today that aligns with the judgement and condemnation of the Pharisees of Jesus’ day?
Put downs: Does it ever happen that you and I, with some of our friends, share a human opinion about what should be happening in the world, or in our family, or in our congregation? Well, there is nothing wrong with that! Until…we start thinking about other people we know, or people who are just out there, and we tell ourselves, or our friends, how stupid they are that they don’t think like we do. Fiends, when you and I do that, we are thinking like the Pharisees.
Gossip: Think of another type of judgment and condemnation. It’s when you and I love to hear some juicy bit of gossip about someone else. Why? Well, hearing about other people’s failures makes us feel better about ourselves, superior, and proud that we would never do what they did.
OK.
But someone might say: “When Jesus tells us, Y’all, do not judge, and y’all will not be judged. Y’all, do not condemn, and y’all will not be condemned, isn’t he, by saying that these things are bad, and isn’t he making a judgment?
We have is say, “Yes!” But there is an important distinction.
When we hold up a person’s perceived faults or differences so people can shake their fingers at them and wag our heads, that is wrong.
When Jesus discusses a situation to show what others doing is wrong, for the purpose of teaching his own followers to do that right thing, that is love.
Or if we are discussing a moral wrong, one clearly taught by God, and bringing it to the attention of someone who has sinned. to help them see where they have failed for the purpose of leading them to repent, that is love.
Look again at our text:
When Jesus said, Y’all, do not judge, and y’all will not be judged. Y’all, do not condemn, and y’all will not be condemned, he immediately followed it up with Y’all, forgive, and y’all will be forgiven.
A judgmental heart looks to put people down.
A forgiving heart looks to bring Jesus’ love to people. Remember, another word for forgiving sin is to remit sin. When we remit sin, we are “sending it away” so it doesn’t stand in the way of a relationship, and we can move forward in love. That is how Jesus built his church and how he teaches us to build his family of believers.
Oh, and Jesus wants us to do one more thing. 38 Y’all give, and it will be given to Y’all. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. In fact, the measure with which you measure will be measured back to y’all.”
You may have heard some people claim that with this verse, Jesus is offering you a plan to get rich. That Jesus is speaking to you as an individual, and that if you give your money to him, you will absolutely gain amazing wealth.
But when we remember that Jesus is speaking to “y’all” we see what Jesus really means. It’s this, when y’all as a Christian community are giving generously, y’all as a Christian community will be receiving generously. The more generous the giving, the more generous the receiving. The result, when we listen to Jesus, we become the blessing for Jesus’ Church.
Jesus not only taught this, he lived it. So, want to let…
Let Jesus show us how
Jesus longed to forgive sinners.
When Jesus pointed out the failures of the Pharisees, he did it to warn them to repent, so they would appreciate the forgiveness he was offering to all. Jesus was all about forgiveness.
The week before his crucifixion, Jesus stood on a hill overlooking the city of Jerusalem. He knew it would be the place where he would be condemned to death and executed for his love. Jesus wept, not for himself, but for city and the population the people who rejected him and would be responsible for his death. He said, Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings, and you were not willing. (Luke 13:34)
In the garden when Judas led the soldiers to Jesus, and used a kiss, the oriental greeting of friendship and peace to mark him as the one to arrest, Jesus still called him friend, to prick his conscience and lead Judas to repent.
When the excruciating pain of the crucifixion tore through Jesus’ body, the first words out of his month were, Father, forgiven them. (Luke 23:34) He wanted forgiveness for the soldiers, yes, but even for the leaders to wanted him dead.
If we ever wonder if our sin is really forgiven, look to the lengths of what Jesus did to forgive every sin for everyone.
Jesus shows us how to forgive. He also shows us how to give.
Jesus gave. He gave health and healing to the sick. Every person who came to him for healing, he healed them.
Jesus was generous with his time and effort. He could have spent all his time in northern Galilee where some of his disciples had family. But he traveled, to Jerusalem, to Judea, to Samaria, the Gentile areas to the north and to the east. Jesus was generous with his time.
Jesus and his disciples didn’t have a lot of money, but they had a treasury and treasurer. Although most of their income seems to have come from gifts from Jesus’ supporters and was used it to cover the costs of their travel and meals. But they still found a way to give from their treasury to the poor. (John 13:29)
The earliest church learned from Jesus. It was a generous church. Many early Christians sold assets to take care of the needs of their fellow Christians. They made the church a place of blessing. They discovered the truth spoken by Jesus: 38 Y’all give, and it will be given to Y’all. A good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over will be poured into your lap. In fact, the measure with which you measure will be measured back to y’all.”
We see that truth here at Trinity.
We give to provide for called workers who provide for our spiritual needs…pastors to lead worship and care for the spiritual needs of the congregation and our teachers to teach our children. I don’t think any of us could provide the financial resources ford even one called worker. But when we together give with a good measure, we receive a good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over and poured into (our) lap. Together we have the blessing of eight called workers to provide leadership and training for our church and school.
In 1990 a group of our members developed the concept of endowment funds. The gifts to these funds are never used. It’s the investment growth that provides uninterrupted grants, year after year. In the past five years, our endowment funds have provided over $100,000 to support students, and to provide many improvements for our school and our church. That return is a good measure pressed down, shaken together, and running over and poured into (our) lap.
Remember the track meet. It’s both an individual sport, and a team sport. When individuals can post a personal best, its means they will also place well in their races, and when they do, they contribute to the team score.
Jesus’ challenge to us to do strive for our personal best for his kingdom. His will for us is to seek to do our personal best to replace judgmental criticism with forgiveness and make our Christian community a place of welcome for everyone who is struggling with their sin. It is likewise his will for us to bring our gifts in rich measure. Doing so brings abundant blessings to all of us. So, y’all, let us strive to be the blessing in Jesus’ church.
Pastor Curt Seefeldt
March 8, 2026
Trinity Lutheran Church, Belle Plaine, Minnesota